I'm beginning to have new appreciation for the guys on Gold Rush!

awshoot · Nov 19, 2020

Mikej said:
a couple of weeks ago we went out to The Tillamook to look for mushrooms and stopped by the beaver Dam Pit. You ought to consider yourself lucky, because 99% of what we saw there was .22lr. Now if shotgun hulls were worth a nickel? Puckin' Fig shot gunners.

At the pit range I frequent, every time I go there now there's somebody just sitting in a car waiting for people to leave to go pick up brass. Sometimes pretty sketchy looking. It used to be an endless supply of reloading brass (*) but now you have to get lucky to find anything aside from .22s, shotshells, and steel cases. It annoys me that my brass supply has dried up.

(*) It used to be so good I'd turn my nose up at headstamps I didn't want.

Mikej · Nov 20, 2020

awshoot said:
At the pit range I frequent, every time I go there now there's somebody just sitting in a car waiting for people to leave to go pick up brass. Sometimes pretty sketchy looking. It used to be an endless supply of reloading brass (*) but now you have to get lucky to find anything aside from .22s, shotshells, and steel cases. It annoys me that my brass supply has dried up.

(*) It used to be so good I'd turn my nose up at headstamps I didn't want.

Seems sort of self defeating for the scrappers/canners/homeless to drive the distances to shooting areas and pick up$10.00-$15.00-even $20.00 worth of bass? It' not like their driving real economical cars or anything? And the shooting areas aren't generally only 10 miles from town!

Caveman Jim · Nov 20, 2020

awshoot said:
At the pit range I frequent, every time I go there now there's somebody just sitting in a car waiting for people to leave to go pick up brass. Sometimes pretty sketchy looking. It used to be an endless supply of reloading brass (*) but now you have to get lucky to find anything aside from .22s, shotshells, and steel cases. It annoys me that my brass supply has dried up.

(*) It used to be so good I'd turn my nose up at headstamps I didn't want.

That's what I've experienced too. Last year I did a cleanup on July 25th some great volunteers, some from this site and Waguns. Thanks guys and gals.
On July 28Th I walk in to check there and this is what I saw...

I pulled my trash barrels and left scathing signs....

From then on my supply has dwindled, then DNR lands were closed and more traffic came and even less brass...

awshoot · Nov 20, 2020

Mikej said:
Seems sort of self defeating for the scrappers/canners/homeless to drive the distances to shooting areas and pick up$10.00-$15.00-even $20.00 worth of bass? It' not like their driving real economical cars or anything? And the shooting areas aren't generally only 10 miles from town!

Last time I was there, it was a guy in an old small car - like the size of 20 year old Corolla.

Anyway, I'm not saying it's logical, but they're always there always scraping up the brass. I even talked to one once just to satisfy my curiosity -- he wasn't a reloader but was there with his girlfriend and a kid, all of them scrounging.

Mikej · Nov 20, 2020

awshoot said:
Last time I was there, it was a guy in an old small car - like the size of 20 year old Corolla.

Anyway, I'm not saying it's logical, but they're always there always scraping up the brass. I even talked to one once just to satisfy my curiosity -- he wasn't a reloader but was there with his girlfriend and a kid, all of them scrounging.

One time we were going to the Tillamook and stopped at the pit and there was a gal there picking brass. This was a few years ago, when things were such that people still left brass on the ground. I chatted briefly with her, it dawned on me later that I should have talked to her about buying what she'd picked up. She told be she had got a bunch of .357mag that day. It might be a decent idea to see if you could get to know one of these folks enough get brass from them. Scrapping usable brass is a cardinal sin, and I'd gladly pay more than scrap for it. Separate, run through the polisher and sell back to the people who'd use it. For a reasonable price of course.

Ironbar · Nov 24, 2020

Well, I finally got around to doing the initial cleaning and sorting on the load of brass I picked back on 11/15. I was actually really surprised by the findings.

I guess I expected a greater mix of calibers in everything I picked up, but in reality it was extremely homogeneous and was comprised of what I came to refer to as, "The Big 4."

With the exception of about 25-30 cases, it was was made up entirely of .223 / 5.56, .45, .40, and 9mm. The final tally...........

• .45 (76)
• .40 (119)
• .223 (152)
• 9mm (300+)

SO, now I see the need for a wet tumbler. These need a deep cleaning that my dry tumbler just can't manage! OH WELL, guess I'll just HAVE to get another tool for the reloading bench!

Caveman Jim · Nov 24, 2020

Ironbar said:
Well, I finally got around to doing the initial cleaning and sorting on the load of brass I picked back on 11/15. I was actually really surprised by the findings.
View attachment 782550

I guess I expected a greater mix of calibers in everything I picked up, but in reality it was extremely homogeneous and was comprised of what I came to refer to as, "The Big 4."

With the exception of about 25-30 cases, it was was made up entirely of .223 / 5.56, .45, .40, and 9mm. The final tally...........

• .45 (76)
• .40 (119)
• .223 (152)
• 9mm (300+)

SO, now I see the need for a wet tumbler. These need a deep cleaning that my dry tumbler just can't manage! OH WELL, guess I'll just HAVE to get another tool for the reloading bench!